San Francisco’s New P.U.C. Building

June 28th, 2007 Alex

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission will be building a new 12-story headquarter that is suppose to be the most energy-efficient office building developed in the United States. The $178 million 254,000 sq ft. design by KMD Architect will have dozens of wind turbines on the roof, solar panels embedded on the outer walls, a natural cooling thermal chimney, and other features that will supply 40% of its own energy. On a sunny or windy day, the goal is for the building to be completely provided by its own produced energy. The P.U.C. headquarters will also have faucet sensors, waterless urinals, and on-demand water heaters which should cut use to 5 gallons per occupant per day as opposed to 25 gallons a day for an average office building. There will also be a grey-water wastewater recycling system that enables the reuse of water from faucets and sinks from the toilets and cooling system. The new headquarters will also utilize sun-filtering shades, new window-glazing materials to bring sunlight inside the structure. The building is designed to exceed LEEDs-Platinum level and exceed California’s Title 24 requirements for energy efficiency in new office buildings by 60% . The building will be located at 525 Golden Gate Ave in downtown San Francisco and is planned to open in 2008.

via Dexigner

Entry Filed under: Architecture,Green Tech,Local,Solar Energy